In recent years, it has become increasingly clear that handicapped children and their families need more than solidarity and love—however vital these are. They need serious services and real expertise. This book makes a major contribution in that direction.
The method developed by Schopler and his colleagues is a structured program for treating and educating autistic children and those with communication difficulties. In English, it's known as TEACCH: Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children. It works alongside medication and psychodynamic support when needed. The program emerged from thirty years of research at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, where it was created. Its success has spread rapidly across America, Europe, and Japan—a global reach that speaks to its validity and the welcome it has received.
This book is written for parents, teachers, and specialists working with children who have communication disorders and who seek a reliable method to guide their efforts. It helps them design a program tailored to each child, aiming for the best possible results while respecting the child's unique abilities and needs. The method is rooted in behavioral psychology, standing in opposition to the psychoanalytic theory once championed by Bruno Bettelheim, which attributed autism to a damaged mother-child bond.
The techniques rest on modern behaviorist principles. Behavior is no longer seen as simple stimulus-response. Instead, it is understood as the outcome of a complex interaction: stimulus, organism (the child), environmental factors, and response. To evaluate and improve a behavior, we must look not only at what caused it, but at the whole picture—the child's individual traits and the world around them. Treatment, therefore, is "personalized" for each case.
Parents, teachers, and therapists carry out the program together, using appropriate techniques and exercises. They develop and evaluate teaching strategies as a team.
"These therapies," notes Professor Rovetto, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Padua, "help develop missing skills, set clear goals, and track progress. For the child, knowing what to do makes all the difference—it opens possibilities that would otherwise be closed. But it matters just as much for parents, teachers, and doctors. It eases their burden. It reduces their anguish."
We must express our deep gratitude to Professor Carlo Hanau for preparing the Italian edition of Schopler's important work—and join him in thanking ANGSA, the National Association of Parents of Autistic Children, of which he is a member.
- Natalia Livi, 1991